Tuesday, June 26, 2018

By now my guess is that you've seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, right? I saw it last Thursday and while I will save most of my thoughts on it for the upcoming episode of the Confirmed Epic Podcast, I will say that I have some very mixed feelings on the film. It does a lot well while but it also has some flaws. I don't have too many complaints about Mattel's Jurassic World toyline, however. While the humans are pretty boring, the dinosaurs have all been really fun thus far. I received this Battle Damage two-pack of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Monolophosaurus (exclusive to Wal-Mart) from my wife and daughter for Father's Day which, along with this cool Mini Dino Multipack and some cards, made the day incredibly awesome. Actually, my favorite gift might have been a card from my daughter! She made it at preschool and it featured questions about me that my 4-year old answered. Of course, even loving that gift I still never turn down dinosaurs. Let's check out this cool 2-pack after the break...

* The headsculpt on the T-Rex is excellent. She has always had such a distinctive look and it is nice to see her represented here. There are a few versions of this Tyrannosaurus available in the Jurassic World but this one is the most affordable and comes with the Monolophosaurus.

* The T-Rex has a very cool action feature: Press down on a button on the base of her neck and her jaws open, revealing her sharp teeth and a massive tongue. This is a pretty cool feature and I love to mess around with.

* The T-Rex actually has some decent articulation as the hips and base of the tail are balljoints. The neck and head are, too, allowing for some great posing. She's not as big as my original Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus Rex but she stands better and can take way more poses.

* The texture on the skin is pretty cool as is the coloring on the skin. I will admit that the "battle damage" is simply painted on, so it isn't particularly impressive but it still does add a little something extra to the overall appearance of the toy.

* Accompanying the Tyrannosaurus Rex is the Monolophosaurus, a dinosaur that hasn't appeared in any of the Jurassic Park films yet. Still, who cares, right? A cool dinosaur is a cool dinosaur. Looking like a cross between the Allosaurus and the Dilophosaurus, this carnivorous Theropod is quite well articulated. I love the hinged neck!

* Of course, I never turn down a hinged lower jaw, either. Who could? The headsculpt is pretty cool and features the singular crest on the dinosaurs head that gives it its name.

* Mattel has done a solid job on the bodies of these dinosaurs. The paintwork gives the Monolophosaurus some extra flair with the blackish-brownish stripes across its back while the plastic actually seems to have some lighter speckles mixed in to add in some extra coolness.

* The Monolphosaurus has the battle damage feature that reminds me a little bit of Kenner's Dino Damage!" Rather than have a removable
flesh piece, the battle damage here is hidden under a spring loaded
"flap" of skin. Press down on the "flap" and the skin retracts into the
body. Pull it back up and it snaps back into place. The interior of the
wound is bright red and fairly "kid friendly" but it is a cool play
feature and it works very well, especially considering the T-Rex can activate it with her mouth.

* Remember how the Kenner dinosaurs had that little "JP" brand on them?
Mattel's dinosaurs don't have that but they do have this cool little
symbol (maybe some sort of DNA-like design?). Scan it with a smart phone and you can add new dinosaurs into the
Jurassic Facts App. I borrow my wife's smart phone to use it (I don't have one) and it's kind of cool. It's a collecting/ trivia
based game where you collect dinosaurs, learn facts, and take trivia quizzes.

The Negatives:

* The Monolophosaurus either has some really bad genetic abnormalities around her teeth or the paintwork is a bit sloppy here. Let's go with the paintwork giving her some extra teeth on the side of her face.

* While I like the play feature of the battle damage, a part of me
definitely doesn't like the distinctive outline and the visible knob on
the side of blue. It definitely detracts from what would have been a
quite impressive looking action figure. It is fun and I like that Mattel
is making a toyline that is designed to be played with, but perhaps
this could have been tweaked just a bit more to make it a bit more
aesthetically pleasing.

Considering that you're getting the Monolophosaurus and the T-Rex, this is a pretty cool set. The Monolophosaurus is a cool smaller dinosaur that adds another fearsome predator to your collection while the T-Rex is a nice smaller version of the classic dino that still looks imposing. She actually reminds me quite a bit of Kenner's Young Tyrannousaurus which I always kind of wanted, but never had. This is a Great and a 1/2 set and a pretty cool exclusive. Man, this line has a lot of exclusives, doesn't it? Fortunately, most are pretty easy to find.

If you're looking for more of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, check out the mini T-Rex from the Mini Dino Multipack.